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Entry Date
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Nick Name
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Location
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Thursday, March 17, 2022
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Little Ketchup
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Grittyville, WA
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Entry 45 of 228 |
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Officially the best way to start an old seed?
I have put this 2015 seed into warm soil that is not sterile. (Even in sterile potting mix, problems can arise if the wrong spores are on the seed.) A couple days later I can see it has sprouted a bit, but its struggling. This is the perfect stage to intervene (and a good reason to plant seeds on their side, so that you can see how well the root is developing, whereas point down dosen't allow you to see the root).
With these weaker old seeds they may have the strength to halfway germinate but then they rot or they get off to a terrible start. So to get the best result, the seed coats are easy to strip off after two days (and they need to come off or the seed can before it gets out) so I peel the seed coat off then soak the seed in hydrogen peroxide (Im only using 1/4 strength because the rot wasnt too bad but I think full strenth 3% could be used if the rot was bad.) Then I plant the seed as though it was a seedling even though its just an embryo still really. Then water a bit of the H202 water onto it... Then I'll cover it with the makeshift plastic cover to keep the humidity up.
Pretty sure this is the best method. The cots will green up and they wont rot, so even if most of the seeds energy was gone it can take that little bit of energy from the cots and start some roots. I'm pretty sure this is the best NICU for pumpkin seeds. This one will grow despite the soil not being far from sterile. The small bit of H202 cleans the embryo and creates a tiny clean zone around it. It will go.
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